# 989
The Whitehouse issued a 1 year progress report yesterday on the nation's pandemic preparedness. As might be expected, this report stressed the successes and minimized those areas that aren't up to par.
The official announcement can be read HERE.
According to this report 86% of the 1 year goals have been met.
Well, sort of.
We Have Made Great Strides Over The Past Year To Complete The Actions Outlined In The Implementation Plan. Eighty-six percent of all actions due within 12 months under the Implementation Plan have been completed. The remaining 14 percent of actions are in progress and are expected to be completed by the 18-month mark.[1]
When you check the footnotes, you discover this little disclaimer.
[1] Due to ongoing scientific and policy analyses, the deadlines for 14 actions were postponed and not included in this summary.
The good news is, the Federal government is making progress. We are better prepared than we were a year ago. And compared to the rest of the world, we are leading the charge.
The question is, is it enough?
Here the answer appears to be: we are better prepared than we were, but not nearly as prepared as we need to be.
This from the New York Times.
Limited Capacity Is Seen in Flu Defenses
By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: July 18, 2007
WASHINGTON, July 17 — More than a year after President Bush unveiled a plan for coping with a pandemic flu outbreak, the federal government still has limited capacity to detect a disease outbreak and track its progress across the country.
The government has also decided that it will not close the borders if a pandemic flu outbreak occurs somewhere in the world.
“The reality is that there are tremendous challenges to sealing our borders to begin with,” said Dr. Rajeev Venkayya, special assistant to the president for biodefense. “Secondly, we believe that if a pandemic virus emerges anywhere in the globe, it is inevitable that it will arrive here in the U.S. irrespective of the actions we take at the borders.”
The government will try to limit the number of arriving people who might be infected with the virus and detain those suspected of harboring the virus, Dr. Venkayya said. But it will also try to allow the flow of goods and people across the border to continue, he said.
In the coming weeks, officials will release the government’s priority list detailing who will get the first lots of flu vaccines in the event of an outbreak. Plans to coordinate with state and local governments about when to close schools are also still in the works, they said.
These updates were delivered Tuesday in a White House briefing on the government’s progress in preparing the nation for an outbreak of a deadly infectious disease. Top officials emphasized that significant planning and investment decisions had already been made, including a $1 billion investment in finding new ways to manufacture flu vaccines.
But, Dr. Venkayya said, “there is much work that remains to be done.”
(cont.)
That our Federal government is planning is a good thing. But there are huge gaps in our nation's preparedness. It isn't enough that the IRS, and the CDC, and the Military are prepared. Once you get below the Federal level, pandemic awareness and preparation falls precipitously.
Many states are simply doing `due diligence, producing a pandemic plan because they've been ordered to, but not really preparing. Worse, except for some large corporations, most businesses are unprepared. And individual citizens are mostly oblivious.
Ensuring that the Federal government can operate during a pandemic is great. But it is only a small part of the job. The rest of the nation must cope as well. And that means states and local governments, businesses, and individuals.
Somehow we need to find the political courage and will to speak plainly about the threat, and spur action at all levels of society. The Federal government, no matter how well prepared it may be, cannot deal with a severe pandemic on the local level.
When it comes down to it, it will be the local response that matters in a pandemic. And there, pandemic planning and awareness is sorely lacking.
